Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic’s I’m Tired of Reading Out Loud to My Son, O.K.? surprised me. I get that people have different taste, but reading reading picture books with my kid is one of my favorite things to do. Dreading it seems… hard to understand.

But then I realized Lucianovic is talking about reading before bed. Yeah, I don’t like that either.

I’ve only parented one toddler, so I don’t know if what works for us would work for everyone, but around here we read during the day. We get out our books when we need some sync-up time — when I want to snuggle up with my son and calm him down, or when he seems to want my attention in general. If we have a big day planned, I try to read with him for about twenty minutes after breakfast, after he’s dressed, and before we head out the door. It’s a good way to feel connected after nudging him through the morning and before we get in the car and start driving. Sometimes we’ll read after nap time before Gavin gets home from work.

By bedtime, though, I’m exhausted. What energy I have left is for helping him toward sleep as smoothly as possible. I can’t spend it making hippo voices or being excited about…well, pretty much anything.

Daytime. That’s the time to read books.

And we only read books we both like. That’s what works for us — so far, at least.